Rotary furnace.



I. L. BRIGGS.

ROTARY FURNAOE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30, 1911. I

1,000,321. Patented Aug. 8, 1911.

III

STES ATNT OFFICE.

IRVING L. BRIGGS, OF CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR TO LILLIEPEARLMAN, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ROTARY FURNACE.

Application filed January 30, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IRVING L. BRIGGS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Clarksburg, in the county of Harrison and State of VestVirginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in R0- taryFurnaces, of which the following is a specification, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings.

This invention is an improved rotary furnace for use for reducing andrefining metals, and consists in the construction, combination andarrangement of devices, hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings-Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal centralsectional view of a rotary furnace constructed in ac cordance with myinvention. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same.

The furnace body 1 is cylindrical in form, and'is provided at its frontend with an annular circumferential enlargement 2, and near its rear endwith a similar enlargement 3, the diameter of which is less than that ofthe enlargement 2. The annular enlargement 2 is hollowed on its innerside to form an annular chamber 4, which communicates with the interiorof the body of the furnace, and the annular enlargement 3 is alsohollowed on its inner side to form a similar annular chamber 5, thediameter of which is less than that of the chamber 4. An opening 6 is atthe front end of the furnace body, a similar but'smaller opening 7 is atthe rear end thereof. The furnace body comprises a shell 8 which inpractice is preferably made of steel about half an inch thick and alining 9 on the inner side of the said shell, and which in practice isusually made of fire brick, but may be made of any other suitablerefractory material. The furnace body is mounted in a horizontalposition, and owing to the difierence in the diameter of the annularchambers 4, 5, and the openings 6, 7 there is a fall from the lower sideof the opening 7 to the lower side of the opening 6, and the bottom ofthe chamber 4 is lower than that of the chamber 5 as will be understood.

The enlargements of the furnace body are respectively provided withcircumferentially disposed annular track rails 10, 11, and the centralportion of the body of the furnace is also provided with a similarannular track rail 12. The rail 10 bears upon Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented Aug. 8, 1911.

Serial No. 605,499.

a pair of peripheral channeled rollers 13 which are mounted in thebearings 14 of pillow blocks 15. The shafts of the said {rollers areprovided with worm wheels 16 10f the furnace is supported at its endsand at its center upon the rollers and is adapted to be revolved.

In practice the driving shaft 18 is operatedat such speed as to causethe furnace body to be revolved once in about four minutes.

The intake hood 23 of the stack 24 is disposed atand above the opening 7at the rear end of the furnace body.

In the operation of my invention, the charge is introduced into thefurnace through the opening 7, and the furnace is gas fired through theopening 6. Slow rotation of the furnace causes all the particles of thecharge to turn and exposes all the particles to the action of the blast.More over, the rotation of the furnace together with the fall from thelower side of the opening 7 to that of the opening 6 causes the chargeto move from the opening 7 to the opening 6. The metal which is sweatedout or melted from the charge flows into the annular chamber 4 fromwhich it may be ladled and poured in ingots or slabs as the case may be,while the impurities are oxidized and discharged at the opening 6.

The annular chamber 5 at the charging end of the furnace serves toretain the metal until the same is in the molten state when the additionof another charge causes the molten metal to flow from the chamber 5toward the larger chamber 4, thus making the process of reducing themetal continuous. The rotation of the furnace exposes the flowing metalto the oxidizing influence of the gases, purification taking place inthe chamber 9, between the chambers 4 and 5. When the metal arrives inthe chamber 4, it is in the pure state, the impurities having beenoxidized during its passage from the chamber 5 to the chamber 4. Themetal is ladled from the chamber 4 and run in molds to form slabs orpigs as the case may be. As the result of the operation of my furnace,

a metal of high purity is recovered from the ore at very low cost. Myimproved furnace is also adapted for the preparation of ores forsubsequent treatment, and for the production of red lead, and litharge.

In Fig. 1 I show a gas pipe 25 the lower end of which extends slightlyinto the fur nace through the opening 6, and is provided with a crossbranch 26 which has downwardly and inwardly directed nipples 27 todischarge burning gas jets into and through the furnace. The gas pipe isalso provided with a gas regulating valve 28.

If the furnace is to be fired with fuel, a removable fire box will beprovided, and connected to the furnace at 6.

I claim 1. The herein described rotary furnace comprising a cylindricalmain portion, annular circumferential chambers at the ends of andcommunicating with the main portion and forming diametrical enlargementsof the furnace, one of the said chambers being of greater diameter thanthe other, the said furnace being provided at its ends with openings,the diameter of the opening at the end of the furnace provided with thelarger chamber being greater than that of the opening at the end of thefurnace provided with" the smaller chamber.-

2. The herein described rotary furnace comprlslng a cyllndrlcal malnportion, an-

nular circumferential chambers at the ends having its intake arranged atthe smaller opening of the furnace.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

IRVING L. BRIGGS.

WVitnesses:

JAMES O. WHITENER, HARRY L. BRIGGS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

